Philip Holden (email: ellhpj@nus.edu.sg)
Chitra Sankaran (email: ellcs@nus.edu.sg)

Week 4: Scorpion Orchid (1)

• Lloyd Fernando, Scorpion Orchid.
  Read the full text in preparation for our first lecture on the book

Questions to Think Over Before the First Lecture

1. What do you think are the main issues addressed by the novel ?

2. The main events of Scorpion Orchid happen in the early 1950s. Fernando adds italicized passages from other texts and from other historical periods. Locate one of these that was not discussed in the seminar, and indicate why you think it is important at the place in the narrative at which it is inserted.

3. Apart from the addition of italicized passages Scorpion Orchid has several other stylistic features which differ from those of traditional novels. Some of these will have been discussed in the seminar; if you are posting before the seminar try to think about these for yourself. Locate a passage in which one of these features is used and discuss the effect it creates.

4. All in all, do you think Scorpion Orchid is successful as a work of art or overly ambitious in terms of its historical and technical reach?

Last updated: 1 November, 2006